How it works

Called Movie Club, the $ 8.99 per month fee for Cinemark slightly undercuts the $ 9.95 monthly fee for MoviePass, but allows members to watch only one movie per month at a Cinemark cinema. MoviePass, directed by the Netflix co-founder, allows members to watch one movie per day for the monthly fee in almost all US theaters. UU

At Cinemark & ​​# 39; s Movie Club, unused tickets are dumped and never expire for active members. In addition, participants can reserve seats and purchase tickets in advance without online charges (typically $ 1.50) and can purchase additional tickets at the member's price of $ 8.99 each.

Members who have already used the month credit would pay $ 8.99 for each additional movie viewed during the month.

As of September 30, the national average ticket price for the chain was approximately $ 7.70, according to a company press release. The average includes large and small markets and discounts for students and seniors, Zoradi said.

The undiscounted prices in North Texas can be $ 9 or more.

Credits stored in the Movie Club program can be used for friends and family. If a member had two accumulated credits, no additional cash would be needed for the member and a companion to watch a movie.

In addition, club participants and members of their group get a 20 percent discount on concessions during each visit. On average, domestic consumers spent $ 4.47 on Cinemark dealerships in the quarter that ended in September.

Movie Club is accepted at all Cinemark locations throughout the country, including Century Theaters, CinéArts, Tinseltown and Rave Cinemas. Cinemark ranks as the third largest theater chain in the country, behind the market leader, Kansas AMC and Regal Entertainment Group, based in Tennessee.

"We have been working hard to put this together," Zoradi said. "We try to take the best elements of other membership programs" from cable health clubs.

Competitive cinema

The most talked about movie program today is MoviePass, a monthly subscription service that began in 201

1. It did not appear on the radar of most consumers until this year, when it was announced the monthly price of $ 9.95. The previous price was up to $ 50 per month, depending on the market.

AMC called it an "unstable and unsustainable program" and said in the long term that it threatens to damage both cinemas and film studios.

"As a result, AMC is consulting with its attorneys to determine if AMC can prevent a subscription program offered by MoviePass from being used at AMC theaters in the United States," the country's largest network said in a press release. of August.

AMC could not be reached on Monday.

Cinemark said it will continue to accept MoviePass, which pays major theaters full price for each ticket purchased by its members.

AMC continues to accept the program and has not taken legal action, according to Mitch Lowe, a former Netflix and Redbox Entertainment member, who joined MoviePass as executive director in June 2016.

Despite the rejection of AMC, Consumers have enrolled in MoviePass en masse.

The majority owner of MoviePass, re an analytics firm Helios and Matheson Analytics, said recently that the service has 600,000 subscribers.

"I can say we're way above that now," Lowe said.

"We have grown dramatically" since the $ 9.95 program was launched, Lowe added. "We continue to pay the full price in theaters and we are spending millions of dollars a week on behalf of our clients in the AMC and Regal Cinemas and there has been no demand or threat to stop our service, very happy to take our money" .

Lowe said that the goal of MoviePass is "to really re-energize people, especially young people and mainly young people who have attended fewer films in the movie theater year after year." I have all these options [small screen] ".

Figures from the Motion Picture Association of America showed that between 2012 and 2015, the number of "frequent" moviegoers aged between 18 and 24 fell by 34% to 5.7 million before increasing in 2016. to 7.2 millions.

For frequent movie buffs between 25 and 39 years old, the figures decreased by 25 percent between 2012 and 2015 before an increase in 2016 to 8 million.

Lowe said that 75 percent of its subscribers are millennials.

"They grew up with the subscription," he said, spe of popular broadcast programs. "They love the idea of ​​paying a fixed fee and being able to go whenever they want, that's what the owners of the cinemas see, that was our goal, we wanted to show that we could get people back to the theater where the creative community wants you to see. "films.

Cinemark was less upset with MoviePass than AMC.

"Everything that helps boost attendance at the movies we support," Zoradi said, adding that the plan is to continue to accept MoviePass under the current theater reimbursement model.

What you see

Still, the biggest potential increase in assistance, he said, is the most attractive rate.

"The attendance is so determined by the content of the films," Zoradi said. "In 2016, we saw Millennials return, our program is clearly aimed at millennials … which remain the largest segment of the films … but not only those of the millennial generation. be very broad and not [aim for] a particular goal. "

" Moviegoing is alive and healthy and very much depends on the content, "added Zoradi, estimating that box office sales this year will be close to a record in" north of $ 11 billion. "

Beyond the ticket program, Cinemark is installing "luxury loungers" seats in many of its theaters. Sixty percent have expanded food and beverage offerings, including a third serving wine and beer.

Even with those amenities, Cinemark saw 6 percent assistance fall to 130.1 million customers in the first nine months of this year.

Zoradi hopes that the new membership program will help fill more seats.

"This has been a sprint for the starting line," he said about the time spent developing the Movie Club program. "The marathon begins [Tuesday] .We will have to wait and see how the consumer responds"